Thrice

Thrice’s early-’00s highlights struck a powerful, even dynamic between earnest melody and post-hardcore heaviness, an airtight formula that sounds all the more believable when compared to followers who seem to just laminate together whiny choruses and out-of-place breakdowns. There’s much to be said for making the familiar sound compelling, but Thrice has displayed an ache to branch out in recent years, releasing the moody, misty The Alchemy Index series of concept EPs in 2007 and 2008. The 2009 album Beggars feels equal parts open-ended and straight ahead, at times rocking like 2002’s The Illusion Of Safety, and at times departing for atmospheres more eerie and languid. The group tours here behind its latest album, Major/Minor, released in 2011 on Vagrant.

Updated 05/01/2012